VS2010 hangs on add reference

Question

Hello,

VS2010 SP1 hangs when selecting add reference in a C# forms project.  If I right click on the project and select add reference, there is a brief flash of a window popping up (perhaps the add reference dialog box).  The pop up disappears and the entire VS2010 window is unresponsive.  A click anywhere on that window produces a system beep.

The system is Windows XP SP3.  All Microsoft Update high priority and recommended updates are installed.  VS details are below my sig.

I have used the vs installer's repair selection and the problem remains.

I saw the hangs for 4 mins post but do not know how to search for broken dll's.

I'd appreciate any help.

Steve

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
Version 10.0.40219.1 SP1Rel
Microsoft .NET Framework
Version 4.0.30319 SP1Rel

Installed Version: Professional

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Answer 1

Hi sjg2,

I find a member who has the same issue has submitted to Microsoft connect portal, http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/597944/visual-studio-hangs-when-adding-reference

See whether the solution(Install power tools) provided in this link is helpful.

Then please try some common workarounds mentioned below to handle crash issue:

  1. Try running devenv /Resetsettings in Command Prompt to eliminate the cause of corrupted settings.

  2. Try running devenv /Safemode in Command Prompt to see if you can apply it correctly.

  4. Reboot the machine into Safe Mode. This can isolate some third party application/driver's interference.

  5. Switch to try a new user account. This can rule out the possibility of corrupted user profile.

If the above suggestions don't work, please try checking in your event log and see if you see any exceptions that are logged around the time that the error occurs. It might shed some light on this problem. For more information on how to view event log, please see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427  

You also can try to get the call stack or dump to narrow down root cause, you can refer to this article http://blogs.msdn.com/kirillosenkov/archive/2008/12/07/how-to-debug-crashes-and-hangs.aspx  to learn how to debug hangs issue.

Related thread:

VS2010 crashing when attempting to add reference

http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/615695/vs2010-crashing-when-attempting-to-add-reference

 

Best regards,

Lucy

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Lucy Liu [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 2

Lucy,

Thank you.  However, before seeing your reply I completely uninstalled VS2010 and VS2008.  I reinstalled vs2010 Pro (full install) and could not recreate the problem.  I updated up to but not including SP1 and could still not recreate.  Updated with SP1 and could not recreate.  Updated completely and still can not recreate.  Current upgrade in process is in SQL Server 2008 SP3.   I will update this after those results.

Note that on a previous computer 2008 and 2010 coexisted for quite some time without any problems, as expected. 

Steve

 

Answer 3

Hello,

Try this

New build (7.0.1.1) available to all .NET Reflector 7  I think it will resolve this issue.Go to help -> check for updates from within Reflector.exe

 

Answer 4

Hi sjg2,

Do you have the same problem with the connect I provide http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/597944/visual-studio-hangs-when-adding-reference？

If yes, I think you can vote this link , or submit another post to Microsoft Connect feedback portal http://connect.microsoft.com.

And you said the vs2008 and vs2010 is ok with your previous computer, so I think this issue maybe caused by your OS, so if possible, please try to uninstall and reinstall your OS.

Thank you for your understanding!

Best regards,

Lucy

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Lucy Liu [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 5

So far, I have not had the problem reoccur after competely uninstalling VS 2008 and 2010 and reinstalling 2010 only.

I am willing to consider this particular thread closed. 

I am not willing to vote anything as an answer though.  The number of times this problem has been reported and the continuing lack of a clear cause and fix convinces me this is a real problem.  While my solution of uninstalling and reinstalling has so far prevented a repeat of the problem, uninstalling and reinstalling is not a viable solution for users of 2010.  I hope that Microsoft has started and continues efforts to find the problem and a better fix than VS reinstall and especially OS reinstall.

Steve

Answer 6

I also experienced this then I thought that it's slow because maybe because there are so many possible references, so it reads through all of them, thus making it slower..?

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a&h

Answer 7

I also experienced this then I thought that it's slow because maybe because there are so many possible references, so it reads through all of them, thus making it slower..?

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a&h

I considered this as a possibility and gave VS over 5 minutes to grind through it.  Unfortunately it never did.